Hammocks are generally hung between trees, poles, and other upright stable structures. It has frequently developed, however, that the very environments which are most desirable and conducive to the use of a hammock, such as the beach or open sunny areas of the yard, are devoid of suitable structures to which the ends of a hammock can be attached. Accordingly, hammock stands have been developed to provide the necessary structure for suspending a hammock from its two ends so that it can swing freely above the ground. Such structures must be relatively large in order to support the fully extended hammock, and permit it to swing freely.
Since these devices are of necessity, large and bulky, it is advantageous if they can be collapsed and shipped in a disassembled configuration. Various means have been employed to permit such disassembling such as laminated or interlocking members which can be joined together to form the hammock support structure or stand.
One known type of hammock stand includes as its main element, an arc shaped stand, with its opposite ends extending upwardly. A hammock can be extended between these opposite ends. Attached to the bottom of the arc shaped stand, are two foot supports which extend perpendicularly from the stand. The joint between stand and the foot supports must be tight and stable when the hammock is in use, but also easily disassembled for convenient packaging and shipping. The hammock stand is subjected to substantial stress forces, particularly as the hammock swings and its weight is shifted from one side of its axis to the other.
It should be noted that one factor which tends to make such hammock stands unstable and tippable, is that they provide just one support hook at each of the opposite ends. So the axis of the hammock is a single straight line between the opposite ends of the hammock stand.
It is therefore, an object of this invention to provide a hammock stand that is more stable because it has two horizontally spaced support hooks on end of the stand, and one support hook on the opposite end. The axis of the hammock is thus triangulated, rather than being a straight line between opposite ends of the hammock stand. It is also within the scope of the present invention that both ends of the hammock stand would have two horizontally spaced support hooks, so that the axis of the hammock would be of rectangular configuration and even more stable.